The present invention relates to a capstan shaft thrust pad device which enables a cassette tape recorder to be constructed with an ultra-thin profile.
In general, in a capstan drive system cassette tape recorder, a fly wheel is integrally provided with a capstan shaft for the purpose of stabilizing rotation of the capstan shaft and driving the capstan shaft by a drive motor through the fly wheel.
In this case, a known thrust pad device for the capstan shaft, is shown in FIG. 1. To a main chassis 1 is fixedly secured a capstan bearing 2, and a thrust pad for preventing upward movement of the shaft includes an upper end surface 4a of a fly wheel 4, which is force fitted onto a capstan shaft 3, and a lower end surface 2b of the bearing 2.
On the other hand, a thrust pad for preventing downward movement of the capstan shaft includes a thrust pad member 6 adjustably mounted in a base plate 5.
In such thrust pad device, the base plate 5 is required, so that the distance H from the lower end of the fly wheel 4 to a main casing 7 becomes large. This hinders manufacture of the tape recorder with a thin profile. Also, the number of required parts is increased and the recorder weight becomes heavy.